Shane Gillis drinking Bud Light beer at a college football game isn’t exactly headline-grabbing news. A quick scroll through his Instagram shows the comedian and his friends enjoying the blue can of beer at various events. In January, Gillis announced his partnership with the beer as he embarked on a stand-up comedy tour.
But now, Gillis, 36, and beer’s relationship is a bit more official: Gillis stars in and co-wrote a new Bud Light campaign for the start of college football season. In addition to the content that will be rolled out across TV and social media, Bud Light will be bringing back cans featuring each of the brand’s 65 college teams.
“As a die-hard college football fan himself, Shane was the perfect partner to connect with the college football audience with his unique style of humor,” Todd Allen, Bud Light’s senior vice president of marketing, said in a press release. “And it’s a plus that (Gillis) loves to have a Bud Light or two on game day.”
In the first commercial, “The Dean’s Office,” premiering exclusively with USA TODAY Ad Meter, Gillis quickly downs a shot or two of Bud Light beer. In the commercial, Gillis plays Coach Herb, who is called into his office for a meeting between the college dean and a troubled football player. When offered a bucket of Bud Light beer in exchange for telling the truth, Coach Herb storms in and confesses his secret just to open the bottle.
In an exclusive statement to USA Today, Gillis revealed that he’s a huge Bud Light fan and is excited to be working again for the brand with his longtime comedy partner John McKeever, who will oversee content. Gillis also teamed up with “Tires” collaborator Steve Gerben.
“I’ve worked with[McKeever and Garven]over the past few years on projects from ‘Beautiful Dogs’ to ‘Tires,'” Gillis said. “It was a lot of fun filming the new short with them and Bud.”
“Tires” is a scripted comedy series on Netflix that debuted in the streaming service’s top 10 and has already been renewed for a second season. The show is part of a contract extension announced earlier this year between Gillis and Netflix. The stand-up comedian also hosted “Saturday Night Live” in February, which made headlines for a variety of reasons. “SNL” hired him in 2019, but parted ways with Gillis four days later. Gillis was fired after videos resurfaced of him using racist and homophobic slang in jokes.
Gillis was born in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. After the SNL incident, he rose to fame with his self-produced debut special, “Shane Gillis: Live in Austin,” which has garnered more than 30 million views. His show with comedian Matt McCusker is the number one Patreon podcast in the world, with 500 million monthly downloads, according to the release.
Check out the full commercial below first: